The Government needs to focus on the real issues stopping job-seekers moving into work, Labour Party social development spokeswoman Jacinda Ardern says.
Commenting on the range of welfare reforms proposed by the Government, Ms Ardern said Social Development Minister Paula Bennett was correct to focus on sole-parent households.
New Zealand had one of the highest rates of unemployment for that group in the OECD.
"But for these parents, our starting point must be to acknowledge that raising a child is an incredibly important job in itself and sole parents must be supported in this role during the critical early years. Most parents do just that and are moving into work."
The three issues that must be addressed in the reforms were:
• Whether sole parents had the training and education they needed to move into work.
• Whether they were able to set up care arrangements for their children.
• Whether there were jobs available.
A 2009 paper on sole parents found 67% of those available for work had problems getting work that paid enough, 66% could not find work for enough hours for it to be worthwhile and 64% did not have the skills employers wanted, Ms Ardern said.
Ms Bennett's guaranteed child-care assistance package, to assist young parents wanting to study with child-care costs, might go some way to alleviate pressure but it lacked detail.
"Her emphasis on work availability sounds good but there is no mention of job creation.
"Simply offering up a $10-a-week bribe to young people to stay in training is not the sustainable response needed to help the 83,000 young people not in employment, training and education."
It was time to start matching the young and unemployed people with the jobs that could not be filled because of skill gaps, she said.
Ideas such as Labour's policy of turning the dole into a subsidy for employers to take on young people as apprentices was a more meaningful incentive than the Government's proposal.
